American Cucumber Wheat

I've had the ingredients sitting there for awhile but hadn't gotten around to brewing it until today. I've been really wanting to play with different fruit and vegetable additions. This thread on homebrewtalk sparked my interest in using Cucumbers in an American Wheat. Sounds like it would of been perfect on a hot summer day but should still be enjoyable now. I plan on putting a portion of the batch onto cucumbers, another gallon or two onto mangos and maybe keeping a gallon without fruit.
This batch also was almost entirely all grain with only a pound of extract used. I may try an all grain batch next, I always thought I couldn't really do all grain on my stove but this has changed my opinion.
The grain bill was very simple this time and I've decided to keep my future grain bills as simple as possible.

UPDATE- My First Pelicle and A Cucumber Wheat
 

Specifics 
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 4.1
Anticipated IBU: 22.8
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.047
Grain
3 lb Wheat Malt
4 lb Two Row
1 lb Wheat DME

Hops
.5  oz Warrior (16.7%) @ 60 min

 Yeast
Dry Nottingham Ale

Tina's Irish Red Ale

A friend requested I brew an Irish red up for her. So here it is, a nice Irish Red Ale based off Jamil's recipe. Everytime I read or use another one of Jamil's recipes it keeps reminding me to pick up his book Brewing Classic Styles. This beer has a simple malt bill that I decreased the amounts of special grains and added some Dextrine malt. The reason is because his recipes are made for 6 gallon batchs and I'm brewing a 5 gallon batch. I added the Dextrine malt because I've had issues with my beer coming out thin lately. 

Specifics 
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 4.7
Anticipated IBU: 18.9
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.045

Grain
3 lbs Extra Light DME
4 lb American 2 Row
4 oz Roasted Barley
4.5 oz Crystal Malt 120
4.5 oz Crystal Malt 40
5 oz Dextrine Malt

Hops
.15  oz Warrior (16.7%) @ 50 min
1 oz Northern Brewer (9.3%) @ 60 min

 Yeast
Dry Nottingham Ale

Citra Cream Ale

I've been brewing alot of darker beers and wanted to brew something up light, refreshing and something that would help convert BMC drinkers. A cream ale is what was needed! A  packet of Citra hops had been sitting in my fridge for awhile and it seemed the right time to use it. I would be able to use only Citra since a cream ale doesn't need high IBU's, which would let me taste what exactly Citra brings to the party. I followed Jamil's Cream recipe with a little modification, I used 2 pounds of Maris Otter and a pound of 6 Row.

Specifics 
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 4.7
Anticipated IBU: 18.9
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.045

Grain
4 lbs Extra Light DME
1 lb Table Sugar
1 lb American 6 Row
2 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb Flaked Maize

Hops
.5 oz Citra (13%) @ 60 min
.25 oz Citra (13%) @ 5 min

 Yeast
Safbrew US-05

Session By Session Witbier

Alot of my friends drink Bluemoon. I've introduced some of them to Hoegaarden which was well received. This beer should be enjoyed by all. I decided to brew session strength so that I could get that grey/white color instead of the darker witbiers that come from extract. I also didn't want an alcohol bomb. I couldn't find indian coriander and just used orange from the grocery store. I wish I used marmalade instead which I read about right before the brew session. A tablespoon of wheat flour was added to the boil to get a permanent haze. The bittering hops were a combination of hops I had left in my fridge that needed to be used and I added a small portion of Amarillo to put a different dimension of citrus into the beer. Safbrew T-58 was pitched and should work well within the style, but what it may add well be seen. I've heard mostly pepper/spicy and or a slight fruityness, but also some banana/cloves like a Hefeweisen. Hopefully this fermentation will stay on the Belgian side and not like a German wheat.

Specifics 
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 4.7
Anticipated IBU: 17.3
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.039

Grain
 2 lbs Extra Light DME
2 lbs Wheat Dme @ 15 min
8 oz  Table Sugar
1 lb Red Wheat
3 oz Munich Malt
8 oz Flaked Oats
3 oz Torrified Wheat

Hops
.75 oz Hallertauer (4.8%) @ 60 min
.15 oz Williamette(4.6%) @ 60 min
.25 oz Spalt(.2.6%) @ 60 min
.50 oz Amarillo(8.5%) @ 15 min
.50 oz Spalt(2.6%) @ 5 min

Yeast
Safbrew T-58

Misc
.25 oz Orange Peel @ 5 min
.25 Crushed Coriander Seed @ 5 min
.25 oz Orange Peel @ 0 min

Dark Cherry Saison

I racked my first Saison into secondary to let some bubblegum off flavors that dominated it hopefully clear off. But before I did that I brewed up another beer to put on the yeast cake, a Dark Cherry Saison. I still had a couple pounds of tart cherries I had picked and frozen earlier in the summer and though they would be interesting with a roasty and smoky malt bill. Also this beer is very much in the traditional saison idea as with farmhouse ales they would use what they had on hand. I am very excited to taste this beer which should be a complex beer perfect for cold winter nights.
 After transferring the wort onto the yeast cake fermentation took off after a couple hours. I put the cherries into primary at flameout because the flavors would meld more with the beer itself and would  not just be a cherry beer. 

UPDATE- My First Pelicle and A Cucumber Wheat
 
Specifics 
Batch Size: 4 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 16.1
Anticipated IBU: 27.5
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.047

Grain
 3 lbs Light DME
4 oz Chocolate Malt
4 oz Torrified Wheat
4 oz Flaked Oats
10 oz Table Sugar
4 oz Smoked Malt

Hops
.75 oz Northern Brewer (9.6%) @ 45 min
.25 oz Northern Brewer(9.6%) @ 5 min
.25 oz Strisslespalt (2.3%) @ 5 min

Yeast
White Labs American Farmhouse Blend WLP670  Yeast cake

Modern Sahti

After reading an article in BYO, a section in Radical Brewing and then listening to a Basic Brewing podcast featuring Finnish Style Juniper beers, I was hooked. I attempted to formulate a modern Sahti recipe. Something that could be enjoyed with our modern palate, not wanting something to offputting. Traditionally Sahti is not boiled during the brewing process, but I decided to boil it but only did a 30 minute boil. The only thing I wish I had done looking back is pitch a little Brett with the yeast. I pitched Safale S-33. I felt its qualities would lend itself to how the original Sahti yeast behaves. Sahti brewers uses a special bread yeast that is fast fermenting, stays cloudy, and has some estery overtones somewhere between a Hefeweisen and a Belgian.

Now somehow my Beersmith file is missing. So my notes are gone. So I can give you what I remember. The malt bill was 4oz of the Applewood Smoked Malt, 8 or more ounces of Flaked Rye, a small amount of Crystal 120 and 4 to 6 ounces of Chocolate Malt. 3 pounds of extra light DME were used in the boil. I really wish I had the notes on this brew. I used .3 ounce of Northen Brewer hops at 30 minutes and a .5 ounce of uncrushed juniper berries for the last  5 minutes of the mash. Then another .5 ounce of crushed juniper berries 10 minutes from the end of the boil. This was only a 3 gallon batch. Hopefully the juniper won't be overbearing, that is the main thing I am worried about.

Rye Farmhouse Saison

This should turn out slightly funky and refreshing. Just a blonde ale malt bill with flaked rye and White Labs new American Farmhouse Blend with Brett should add the complexity and refreshing beer I'm looking for. I plan on putting a another beer on the yeast cake after this is done. Eventually I will start pitching the dregs from bottled sours and build up the bugs. I figure I can evolve this into a house sour.
I also tried out a new hop. Strisselspalt is a french hop that seems little used but comes highly recommended.

UPDATE- My First Pelicle and A Cucumber Wheat


Specifics 
Batch Size: 3 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 9.1
Anticipated IBU: 23.5
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.046

Grain
2 lbs Amber LME
.5 lb Wheat DME
1 lb Light DME
4 oz Flaked Rye
4 oz Table Sugar
5 oz Honey Malt
2 oz Biscuit Malt

Hops
.75 oz Strisslespalt(4%) @ 5 min
.35 oz Centennial(10%) @ 60 min

Yeast
White Labs American Farmhouse Blend WLP670

Choco Porter

I found an old bottle of my milk stout and it renewed my interest in brewing a dark beer. After exploring the possibilities I settled on a Chocolate Porter. So this is my attempt at that.

The end product didn't come out as dark as a porter should be and looking back I should of used some roasted barley along with the chocolate malt. The chocolate aroma was amazing coming off the wort as I transferred it to the fermenter.

Specifics 
Batch Size: 3 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 20.7
Anticipated IBU: 26.1
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.046

Grain
4 lbs Amber LME
4 oz Chocolate Malt
1 oz Caramel Malt
2.5 oz Flaked Oats
8 oz Maris Otter
1 oz Torrified Wheat

Hops
.5 oz Hallertauer(4.8%) @ 45 min
.25 oz Centennial(10%) @ 60 min

Yeast
Safale US-05

Slightly Smaller Rumpkin Clone

After reading about Avery's Rumpkin I knew that I was going to brew my version of it for a fall beer. Rumpkin is an imperial pumpkin beer. Its aged on Gosling's Rum barrels for 6 months, coming out to intense 13.2 ABV. I decided to make it slightly smaller as I wasn't going to age it for 6 months and I wanted it ready to drink as soon as possible. I baked the pumpkin pie mix at 350 degrees for an hour, then mashed it in with the rest of the grains at 155 degrees. (Well as close to 155 as I can hold with this electric stove)
The pumpkin was prespiced and if the beer needs more spice I'll add it when I add the spiced rum later. I plan on using Kraken or Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum. 

Specifics 
Batch Size: 3 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 14.6
Anticipated IBU: 24.1
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.070

Grain
3oz of Maris Otter
3oz of Flaked Oats
2oz of Crystal 120
8oz of Brown Sugar
1lb of Honey @ 5 min
4lb of Canned Pumpkin Pie
3.5lb of Amber LME

Hops
.50oz Cluster (7.00%) @ 60 min
.25oz Cluster (7.00%) @ 30 min

Yeast
Safale US-05

Four Grain Ale

Last night I brewed what I call a Four Grain Ale. I used Oats, Wheat, Rye, and Barley. I based the recipe off some rye recipes. It came out to a nice mellow 1.046 original gravity, I wasn't aiming for anything to  high in alcohol. I attempted to brew this as a partial mash and comparing with my Beersmith notes It looks like I hit about 70 percent efficiency.I added a majority of the extract in late to keep the color light.

Specifics 
Batch Size: 2.75 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 10.8
Anticipated IBU: 29.4
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.046

Grain
1.5 lbs of Amber liquid Extract @ 60min
2 lbs of Amber Liquid Extract @ 30min
4 oz of Flaked Oats
4 oz of Flaked Rye
4 oz of Torrified Wheat




Hops 
.25oz Cluster (7.50%) @ 60 min
.25 oz Cascade (5.50%) @ 30 min
.25oz Cluster (7.50%) @ 15 min

.25 oz Cascade (5.50%) @ 10 min

Yeast
Safale US-05

Sweet Potato English Ale

Since I read a recipe that included it, I've wanted to brew something with sweet potatoes. I finally got around to it. I brewed a 2.75 gallon batch as I wasn't sure how it would turn out, also I've decided to start brewing smaller batches. I based the recipe off a english nut brown ale. This ended up coming out with a lot higher gravity than I expected, but since it was planned as a fall beer it should have time to mellow.
I diced the sweet potatoes into finger nail sized pieces and then roasted half in the oven for about 45 minutes at 450 degrees. Some ended up burning on the outside but that should just add to the flavor. I then mashed all the potatoes for about an hour at 155 degrees (At least as close to that temperature as I could maintain. I wish I had a gas stove.) I then separated the the potatoes and proceeded to boil the wort as normal. Hopefully the orange color comes through in the end. I am excited to taste the final product.

Sweet Potato Ale

Specifics 
Batch Size: 2.75 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 7.0
Anticipated IBU: 15
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.072

Grain
.5oz Biscuit Malt
.5oz Chocolate
.5oz Special B Malt
.5oz Special Roast
1.25oz Dark Brown Sugar
1oz Flaked Oats
1oz Sucrose
1oz Torrified Wheat
3lbs of Golden Light DME

Hops
.25oz Cluster (7.50%) @ 60 min
.25oz Willamette (5.50%) @ 20 min

Yeast
WLP013 London Ale Yeast

Kolsch'ed up.

I brewed the Kolsch I've had waiting.

Wyeast Kolsch Yeast
3.3 lb Pilsen LME
2 lb Wheat DME
12 oz. Carapils
.25 oz of torrified wheat

2 and 2/3 oz of Willamette hops
1/3 oz of Cascade hops


Other than the changes to the ingredient list noted above, I followed the procedures included in the kit. Including the late addition of the DME to help ensure the light color. Unfortunately one of the side effects of a late night brew session is I forgot to get the gravity of the wort. The estimated OG is 1.042 to 1.046.
The carboy is sitting in a tub of cold water with ice added periodically and a fan pointed into it, Keeping the fermenting temperatures down in the recommended range for Kolsch. I plan on later racking half this batch onto raspberries and leaving the other half alone.

Brandon O's Graff (For the most part)

 Every attempt I've made at straight cider using juice, sugar and yeast came out thin and dry. Not at all like commercial sweet ciders. This is supposed to be sweet and have body like Strongbow or Woodchuck. Perfect for my significant other and other friends who don't care for beer.
I brewed up a 5 gallon batch following Brandon O's recipe as stated here. The only difference is I used 1.25 Oz of torrified wheat and just amber DME as it was all I had on hand. I used Crystal 120L as suggested in the recipe as I used cheaper juice. Cascade hops were selected as they seemed to go well with cider flavors.

I kept some of the yeast cake from my Honey Pilsner Ale and repitched it into this. The yeast is Safale US-05. After 12 hours the airlock would bubble every 5 seconds or so. Upon pitching the yeast the final gravity of the wort was 1.062. The only thing I am worried about is its currently fermenting at around 70 degrees. I really need to figure out a way to control fermentation temperatures, I'd prefer lower temperatures so no off flavors develop. I have high hopes for this cider.

Honey Pilsner Ale

This did not go as planned but I think it benefited from the changes. It originally was a Patersbier Kit from Northen Brewer. I followed the recipe but used a different yeast.  I have substituted the Belgian yeast for Safale US-05 American Ale yeast. It is supposed to very clean American Ale with crisp finish which should go well with the Pilsner malt.
Everything went expected on the brew day except the gravity was low when the yeast was pitched. It was reading about 1.035 and not the 1.047 that Northern Brewer suggests. A krausen didn't form for about 24 hours and even now there is no real activity in the airlock. I decided to add 2 pounds of honey I had leftover from making mead to boost the gravity of this beer. After entering the recipe into a calculator I came up with a predicted gravity of 1.048. The honey was added about 36 hours after pitching the yeast. Over all I am satisfied with the addition of honey, as it should meld well with all the other ingredients.

Safale US-05 American Ale Yeast
0.5 lbs CaraPils
6 lbs Pilsen malt extract syrup
2 lbs of Clover honey

1 oz Tradition hops (60 min)
0.5 oz Saaz hops (10 min)

Milk Stout Started

This originally started as a Northern Brewer Dry Irish Stout kit and I added 1 pound of Lactose to sweeten it up. I just hope that one pound of sugar will be enough to get that sweet dessert style beer I'm hoping for.
The strong smell of coffee with a small touch of bitterness coming through from the hops filled the room during the whole boil. The wort was pitch black and had a gravity of 1.052 when the Wyeast 1056 American Ale smack pack was pitched. Within hours it was bubbling away.

-Northern Brewer Dry Irish Stout Kit
-Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast
-1 Lb of Lactose Sugar

This brewing session cemented the fact that I need a wort chiller before the next brew session, the old ice bath in the sink is not working well enough. I will probably DIY the wort chiller and save some money hopefully.

American Amber

This is the first post and didn't document this batch as well as I should of. It is Brewer's Best American Amber. It was put into primary on March 19 and the primary fermentation seems to of slowed down at this point.